The Kinks 2018 digital (streaming/download) remasters

And the first step of a good remaster is finding the best source possible.

There are plenty of bad sources out there. Tapes age, distort, become unplayable. There are several noticeable source issues in the new Bowie remasters, for example, that are completely independent of the mastering.

I agree with you that good mastering will help you get the best sound you can from a given source, but let’s not descend into the hyperbole of “I don’t care if the source is a tin can and a string as long as it’s mastered well” because if one of your favorite albums came out and the source was truly shoddy, you’d be complaining.

 

All considered, I'll stick with my original comment.

 

Please excuse the dumb question, but when I pull up iTunes (desktop) or Apple Music (phone), I don't see any way to identify the Kinks albums that are newly mastered for iTunes. Can someone help an old fool out?

 

Anyway, for people who have heard both, are these any better than the DE’s? Those are my main copies of these albums at the moment.

 

The new ones have a production date in lighter text that matches the original release date. The older ones list 1998, or 2014, etc.

 

Something Else just has the grey cover with album title, no picture of the band.

 

Dowloaded 'Arthur' and 'Lola' in 96/24 from HDTracks.

Haven't had time to A/B them, but they sound nice played on my main system (playing the files direct from Oppo).

I'll probably go back for 'Something Else' today.

 

Look, if we didn't appreciate good mastering from bad we probably wouldn't be on this site. But sweeping generalizations like this rarely sound credible. Of course source matters. You can't put back what isn't there.

Also, what kind of magic do you think kept the lathe needle from jumping when mastering those original PYE releases?

Yes a good mastering engineer is a key ingredient. And I agree that the tools used by a mastering engineers should be transparent to the listener and not detract from the enjoyment of listening to the music.

But a bad outcome of the loudness war is this misunderstanding of how the correct use of compression, limiting, EQ and noise reduction actually contributes to the recordings you enjoy.

 

Yes, I noticed that too. Weird...

 

???

 

Relax, I just said that I'd rather have a tape copy then a bad remaster from a better source.

 

If you want a ****ty remaster then the source doesn’t matter. Otherwise it matters.

 

Just sampled Tin Soldier Man from the Something Else MFIT, and there’s no vocals!!
Huh??

 

Ha, I was playing 'Tin Soldier Man' and 'Situation Vacant' under the shower from my tinny iPhone 6 speaker - sorry, audiophiles! - this morning and exactly the same happened: those 2 mixes are heavily out of phase, which I then realised is the reason those were remixed in the 80's. From an iPhone speaker which surely inverts the signal in some reason I can understand it, but I don't see how this happens in your situation though?

 

Just did a comparison of a few tracks from Something Else (PRT CD, 2009 deluxe, the new hi-res)...

2009 deluxe and hi-res are very, very close. The only leg the PRT has to stand on is dynamic range, it's very crankable. But it sounds like it's sourced from a second generation tape. Just my initial impressions.

I think all the stereo digital versions seem imperfect in regards to older analogue vinyl pressings, they all seem a little NR'd to me, lacking airiness or headroom. Just a bit boxy and sterile, as a lot of digital can be. Even fed through a decent playback chain.

But I don't think the 2009 deluxe or the hi-res are the brickwalled travesties some might make them out to be. What you lose in dynamic range, you gain in clarity. I guess my major criticisms are they do tend to be a bit boomy. Vocals are great on both, though.

 

Funny comprise, since I've never heard the stereo mix before. Is it any good?

 

Where to begin...

I have most of the American Reprise mono LPs, a few Canadian pressings (Phonodisc) with both Marble Arch and PRT labeling, a Portugese PRT pressing of Kelvin Hall, an odd German Village Green, cassettes from Spain...and they all sound pretty similar.

Who has heard the Pye master tapes? Are there first generation multitrack masters still in existence? What are the best sources currently available? Did Pye keep all its tapes, or did they scrub all but the finished mix masters? Can I blame Shel Talmy for any of this? Why do other artists recorded at Pye sound good, and the Kinks' recordings sound so...I dunno...tinny?

 

The mono box is analogue cut (with the exception of The Black Album) from the Pye mono master tapes. Sounds pretty good.

 

Uh...it's not.

 

If the 2 channels from the original stereo mixes are combined and played back in mono, the vocals, which are out of phase as noted above, will disappear. Same with Lazy Old Sun.

 

Hence me mentioning how out of phase they are.

 

So none of that prickly upper midrange emphasis?

 

Uh, then enlighten us.

 

I was just clarifying that the vocals will disappear when summed to mono. You mentioned that your speaker "inverts the signal" which I did not understand to mean the same thing.

 

Well, apparently the tinny iPhone speaker sums it to mono then, haha.